HC Deb 18 April 1956 vol 551 cc984-5
9 and 10. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Minister of Defence (1) the sum that has been spent on the Armed Forces in Cyprus since the decision to establish the Middle East base there instead of in Suez;

(2) his estimate of the weekly sum that is now being spent on the Armed Forces in Cyprus.

Mr. Birch

I have been asked to reply.

The amount spent on the three Services in Cyprus since 1st July, 1954, is about £20 million. The weekly expenditure is now about £390,000. These figures exclude the cost of unit equipment.

Mr. Hughes

As the process of deportation of the Archbishop was carried out in order to create law and order, can the Minister say whether the cost of maintaining law and order has gone down since the Archbishop was deported?

Mr. Stokes

Is the Minister going to answer? Does he really understand the implications of the question, which is that the Suez base has been transferred to Cyprus? Would he say that we now have a base in Cyprus rather than that we have transferred the Suez base to Cyprus?

Mr. Birch

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, there is still a base in the Suez Canal zone which is run by civilians.

Mr. Stokes

That does not answer my question. I want the right hon. Gentleman to answer the military implications of the question. The Suez base is one thing and the Cyprus base is another. The Question makes it appear as if they are the same thing. Does he think that they are?

Mr. Birch

Obviously they are not the same thing.

Mr. Stokes

That is not answering the Question. The right hon. Gentleman cannot evade it in that way. Does he consider that the Suez base, as we understood it, has been transferred to Cyprus.

Mr. Birch

Obviously the whole shooting match has not gone there, as I pointed out to the right hon. Gentleman. I do not think that there is any argument about it.